By Barbara MacFarlane, MD
Lifesport & Wellness Center
July is a great month for athletes in Santa Cruz County. Every year world class athletes come here for both tennis and road racing.
The Comerica Bank Challenger is held at Seascape Sports Club and in conjunction with this event, there is the 110th Women's Cal Open and an exhibition of Wheelchair Tennis. The tennis runs July 12-July 18.
Just a week later, the 38th annual Wharf to Wharf race takes place on July 25. With both tennis and road racing the elite world class athletes are in town along with the local favorites. Both events encompass the full spectrum of athletic performance.
This year I am covering the Comerica Bank Challenger as the physician. The athletes are from more than 20 countries, male and female and also in wheelchairs.
Each has his or her own story of how they become eligible for the competition.
Some qualified for competition based on world ATP ranking, and some based on winning a qualifying event. Each has a story of achieving what they can both mentally and physically.
These athletes put it all on the line when they step on the court to compete.
Just like running road races, tennis is a sport that is very much up to the individual and receives no coaching during the competition.
When talking to the athletes, even when they are in the top 150 players worldwide, the competition is always very humbling. To win, everything has to be right on that specific day.
Want to Be Your Best
Achieving what you can both mentally and physically is what athletic competition is about. To be the best you need to have both.
Most people have never tried to be their best. Once you see a wheelchair-bound athlete compete on a world class level or any other athlete that has a physical handicap then you come to a new realization.
You realize if you are an able bodied person you have been given opportunities in life that far exceed many others. Somewhere there is a responsibility to maximize those opportunities.
Wheelchair tennis athletes are playing on Sunday July 18. Come and watch and inspire yourself to maximize your own abilities.
Maximizing yourself physically requires eating, sleeping and training in a way that is the healthiest and achieves the specific fitness goals for yourself and your sport.
Each sport has both general strength and conditioning that is necessary and sport specific training. Each sport has some specific strength, speed and endurance combination that is best for optimizing performance in that sport.
There is an added challenge when you need to combine this with physical needs presented by being in a wheelchair. Not having the use of your legs and for some diminished use of the upper extremities presents real challenges when playing tennis.
Know What You Need for Your Sport
For the non-athlete getting started in a sport or activity, it is important to know what fitness is important for what you are going to do.
For the elite athlete it is important to maintain and even peaktheir fitness level during competition. Both for the athlete and non-athlete alike this is not inherently something everyone knows. We all need help from coaches, trainers, therapist and physicians if we want to be our best.
When you seek advice and treatment just remember the very best do not do it without a lot of help and support.
Maximizing yourself mentally involves not only believing in yourself, it involves being able to shut out any distractions that dissuade you from performing your best. Knowing how you tick mentally is of utmost importance.
Tennis is one of those sports that is very much a mental game. The best physical athlete is often not the one that wins.
The one that wins is the one that can maximize the use of their fitness and tennis skills with strategy and at the same time have nothing around them distract their focus.
That is not an easy task.
When you see it all put together while on a wheelchair you realize people can do much more than most ever imagined.
This July is an Inspiration
Make July your athletic month as well. Take in some tennis and be inspired or join in the Wharf to Wharf and participate.
Set some of your own goals to achieve what you can. Get advice on how to get started and what fitness you need.
Always attend to whatever pain or injury you have with the appropriate medical assessment and treatment. You too can achieve more than you ever dreamed.
